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Boston Globe
18-05-2025
- Sport
- Boston Globe
Matt Brown, paralyzed in a high school hockey game 15 years ago, is finding his groove
The answer surprised even Brown himself. 'While the answer is always yes, it would be harder to hit that reset button than most people think,' Matt Brown said. 'Because I wouldn't be able to do what I'm doing now.' Fifteen years after he was paralyzed after crashing into the boards while playing hockey for Norwood High, Brown believes the accident that robbed him of so much has given him a perspective he never would have had if he hadn't been paralyzed. Advertisement People spend years, sometimes a lifetime, trying to figure out their purpose. What were they put on this earth for? From his wheelchair, Matt Brown can see higher and further than most. His purpose is, quite simply, to help others. The 'Not exactly the optimum time,' he concedes. Five years later, the foundation is, like Brown himself, finding its groove. It has distributed some $300,000 in grants to people who are living with paralysis, paying for accessible vehicles, home modifications, essential equipment. Besides donors, an annual golf tournament and the Falmouth Road Race are big fund-raising tools. This year, the foundation gained charity status with the Boston Marathon, allowing it to field runners, opening a new revenue source that Brown hopes will allow it to distribute even more grants to more people. Advertisement The grants change little things, changing lives. They renovated a bathroom for a guy on the South Shore who hadn't been able to shower since his accident a year before. They bought a standing frame for a man so he could be vertical in his Quincy home. Not long ago, Brown got a call from the folks at the Little Mustangs Preschool Academy in Norwood, about two miles from his house. One of the students there, a 4-year-old boy, is paraplegic. When his classmates went out to recess, all the boy could do was watch them from his wheelchair, because the playground equipment wasn't accessible to him. Brown's foundation paid for an adaptive swing, and on Tuesday, Brown watched as the boy called his parents over to push him in that swing for the first time. The boy's classmates made cards for Brown, thanking him in eight different languages. 'To see that little boy smile,' Brown said, 'to see his parents smile, I can't even explain what that feels like.' He lives in the house he grew up in, with his parents, Mike and Sue. His parents met in the sixth grade. Sue's maiden name is Brown, same as Mike's, so they like to say Mike took her name when they got married. Matt Brown would like to get a place of his own some day. But he can't imagine leaving Norwood. The town, and its people, always had his back. Advertisement Next month, he'll be the best man at the wedding of his childhood friend Austin Glaser, a Norwood police officer who was his roommate at Stonehill College. Brown has been working on his speech for ages, trying to get it down from a half-hour to five minutes. He has also remained close to Tyler Piacentini, the Weymouth High player whose check sent Brown crashing headfirst into the boards at Pilgrim Skating Arena in Hingham in 2010. He never blamed Piacentini, saying it was 'just two guys going for the puck.' Last year, he did doughnuts in his wheelchair on the dance floor at Piacentini's wedding in Nashville. On Wednesday, Brown was sitting in his driveway. As he does three days a week, he had just spent more than two hours at the gym at Journey Forward, a nonprofit in Canton that helps those with spinal cord injuries. He regularly works out there alongside his friends, hockey players who suffered similar spinal cord injuries: Jake Thibeault, who was paralyzed in 2021 while playing for Milton Academy; AJ Quetta, who was paralyzed in 2021 while playing for Bishop Feehan High; and Denna Laing, who was paralyzed in 2015 while playing for the Boston Pride in the National Women's Hockey League. 'We almost have enough of us for a full line,' Brown deadpans. Brown was mentored and inspired by 'We're all following in Travis's tire tracks,' Brown said. In the driveway, Brown's friend Jack Doherty was talking about speeches he's lining up for Brown. Doherty has his own story: Advertisement 'When he speaks,' Doherty said, 'people want him to speak longer.' Brown doesn't want anyone to think he's some super hero. He's just a regular guy from Norwood, who's been able to move on from a life-altering injury with the help of family and friends who never gave up on him, who always inspired him. And so he aspires to inspire others. It could have gone the other way, he says. 'I could have closed the door, just stayed in my room, give in to that darkness,' he said. 'But my friends and family kept me going.' He turned to look at the house where he ran down the stairs on Christmas mornings. Where he put on his uniform for Little League games. Where he did his math homework. 'When one door closes, not all doors close,' he said. 'I have to work hard to find those other doors. But I'll never stop trying.' He looked up and down his street and then he said it, his mantra, something that repeats in his head, and he lives by it. 'Never quit,' Matt Brown said. 'Overcome. Keep going forward.' Kevin Cullen is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at
Boston Globe
10-03-2025
- Health
- Boston Globe
Families of Revere women who died in Belize call for ‘transparent' investigation
'The circumstances surrounding this tragedy remain unclear and suspicious, and we are seeking answers to understand what happened in Belize,' the families said in a statement issued on their Authorities in Belize have said the women appeared to have froth been frothing at their mouths and investigators found alcohol and 'gummies' in the room. There was no sign of forced entry or injuries. Advertisement In the statement, relatives recalled each of the women. Wafae El Arar 'was full of life, dreams, and unwavering faith. Her name, meaning faithfulness and loyalty, was a true reflection of who she was — honest, kind, and deeply devoted to the people she loved,' relatives said. She was 'on a personal journey of faith, planning to wear the hijab this Ramadan alongside her younger sister.' Wafae El Arar cuts a cake in celebration of her graduation. (Family Photo) Family Photo El Arar graduated from Revere High School in 2017 and Stonehill College in 2021 with a degree in biochemistry, according to her LinkedIn profile. El Arar was a research technician at the Mitchell Lab at Massachusetts General Hospital focused on women's health. She was 'committed to making a difference in an area often overlooked in healthcare,' relatives said. 'She was so proud to have recently Advertisement Imane Mallah 'had a unique ability to listen deeply, making everyone feel heard and valued,' relatives said. 'She was a radiant spirit, and a beacon of kindness. She embraced life wholeheartedly, cherishing every soul that shared the journey with her.' Her friends considered her 'a warm, comforting light, guiding them through even the darkest of times,' the family wrote. She was a graduate of Revere High School. Imane Mallah. (Family Photo) Family Photo Mallah worked with Phoenix Protective Service, a Charlestown-based security firm, according to a Her family wrote that 'Imane poured her heart into everything she did. Her laughter was contagious, and her stories were filled with humor and wisdom, leaving those around her both entertained and inspired ... She was our greatest love and we will miss her every day for the rest of our lives.' Kaoutar Naqqad was 'the light in our lives, someone whose kindness and warmth touched everyone she met,' her relatives said. 'As the youngest daughter of four siblings, she held a special place in our family, bringing joy, laughter, and love into our home every single day.' She was attending college and also worked at a group home for 'troubled youth,' her family wrote. Her professional goal was to become part of law enforcement. Kaoutar Naqqad. (Family Photo) Family Photo Naqqad, also a graduate of Revere High School, had taken the civil service exam and recently took the civil service exam for the State Police. Advertisement Naqqad had a fear of flying but set that aside to visit Belize with her two close friends. She was planning to visit Morocco with her parents this summer, according to relatives. 'Her heart was full of generosity, always putting others before herself and offering a listening ear, a comforting word, and unwavering support,' the family wrote. 'We cannot put into words the depth of our grief and the void that Kaoutar's passing has left in our hearts.' The families expressed thanks for the outpouring of support they have received in Revere and among the Muslim and Moroccan communities in the area. 'We ask for continued prayers, patience, and privacy as we navigate this profound sorrow,' they said. 'May their beautiful souls rest in eternal peace.' John R. Ellement can be reached at
Boston Globe
05-02-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
‘It's really just insanely ridiculous': Locals react to Trump's Gaza comments
'The reaction both from American Jewish groups, from our allies, from Arab nations, from the Palestinian leadership, makes it clear that this is a nonstarter,' she said. 'I join others in wondering if this is serious or not because it's so far fetched.' Advertisement Although members of his administration are already walking back portions of Trump's remarks, the president's controversial statement Tuesday night that the US would redevelop the war-torn territory, displacing some 2 million Palestinians in the process, continued to reverberate around the world. He proposed the US turn Gaza into 'the Riveria of the Middle East,' describing its current state as a 'big pile of rubble' after the 15-month war between Israel and Hamas, and perhaps would even deploy American troops there. 'I don't think people should be going back,' Trump said. 'You can't live in Gaza right now. I think we need another location. I think it should be a location that's going to make people happy.' On Wednesday, Trump administration officials sought to qualify the president's remarks, for example, insisting he had not committed to using US troops and that any relocation of Palestinians would be temporary. Trump's rhetoric could rock the next stage of talks that could extend the fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and secure the release of the remaining hostages held in Gaza. 'Of course, this could undermine a ceasefire,' said Anwar Mhajne, a Palestinian citizen of Israel, who lectures as a political scientist at Stonehill College in Easton. Her first reaction when she heard Trump's comments was, 'Wow, we're really normalizing ethnic cleansing as an official US policy these days.' Advertisement While Trump has floated expansionist ideas before, If Trump's ideas were to come to fruition the U.S. would be 'causing more instability and masking it as a humane way for people to live peacefully.' Jeremy Burton, the chief executive of Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston, said Gazans should be the ones to decide whether they stay or leave the territory, and that such a decision needs to be made 'free from any coercion by Hamas which has held them under the control of its terrorist regime for nearly two decades.' 'No decision to commit the United States to a new, large-scale, and potentially very expensive foreign policy initiative should be made without broad, bipartisan, and explicit support from Congress,' he said in a statement. He expressed gratitude to Trump for his efforts 'toward achieving the current ceasefire,' and said his organization's priority continues to be bringing the remaining hostages home and continuing the ceasefire into its next phase. To be sure, with a conflict as polarizing as that which has unfolded in Gaza, not everyone finds Trump's idea objectionable. 'The millions of Jews, Christians, Muslims, and Druze who neighbor Gaza can no longer live beside a territory whose populace willing elected the terrorist organization Hamas,' he said in a statement. Advertisement Kestenbaum, who addressed the Republican National Convention last year, said he supported Trump's decision 'to allow the safe evacuation of women and children while Israel continues to obliterate the threat of Hamas.' 'Once that is complete, the Administration has been clear that all Gazans will be able to safely return,' he said. 'This has been done in almost every other conflict, so I am unclear why there is a Palestinian exception.' Maria, the Palestinian American from Roslindale, meanwhile, said the people of Gaza should be the ones to determine their own future. 'They lived through 15 months of genocide not to be shepherded out of the Gaza Strip but to stay,' she said. What stood out to Maria as Trump spoke Tuesday evening alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House was how that Palestinians were boxed out of the discussion. 'Zero representation,' said Maria, who works in the pharmaceutical industry and is the director of programming for the Boston Palestine Film Festival. For Juliet Salameh Olivier, another Palestinian American who lives in Boston, Trump's comments reflect what Palestinians feared to be the end-goal regarding Gaza all along: land theft and ethnic cleansing. 'Our ancestral homeland is, to him, merely an ocean front real estate conquest,' she said. She dubbed the idea that of Palestinians leaving the territory en masse 'ludicrous.' 'We will return, we will rebuild,' she said. 'The steadfastness of the Palestinian people to stay on their land comes from a deep sense of belonging. We belong to the land as stewards. A colonizer does not understand this sacred relationship but seeks only to steal, exploit, and destroy.' Advertisement Hamas, which has reasserted control over Gaza since the ceasefire began last month, has said it will not release hostages in the second phase without an end to the war and a full withdrawl of Israeli forces. Netanyahu, meanwhile, maintains that Israel is committed to victory over Hamas and the return of all hostages captured in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that triggered the war. Hamas triggered the war with its Oct. 7, 2023, cross-border attack, which killed some 1,200 Israelis and took 250 others hostage. Israel responded with a fierce offensive that has killed more than 46,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, and displaced an estimated 90 percent of Gaza's population, sparking a humanitarian crisis. Material from the Associated Press was used in this report. Danny McDonald can be reached at
